‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Trailer Declares War on Summer

With those words, the superintelligent chimp Caesar (Andy Serkis) puts a chilling exclamation point on the new, full-length trailer for “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” laying out the stakes in stark terms as humans and apes barrel toward a climactic battle.

Picking up several years after the events of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” Caesar and his simian brethren have established their own community deep in the woods. Caesar, who spoke a couple words in the first movie, a reboot/prequel to the original 1960s and 1970s sci-fi classics, has broadened his vocabulary significantly, and other apes are learning language, as well. We even get a glimpse of the law from the Sacred Scrolls: “Ape shall not kill ape.”

What’s left of the human race, meanwhile, has recovered from a virus that wiped out most of the population, and its leaders — particularly the apparent antagonist played by Gary Oldman — are itching for war with the apes. One human, played by Jason Clarke (“Zero Dark Thirty”), however, becomes friends with Caesar and tries to stop the ultimate conflict before it’s too late.